The invention relates to a convertible chair for sitting and lying, which has a double carriage consisting of an inner carriage and an outer carriage which can telescope out of a frame. Two cushions are laid one on the other in the chair configuration, and one behind the other in the cot configuration, on a platform of the extended inner carriage and supported on the outer carriage, respectively, and a head cushion is provided which at its upper part engages with sliding or rolling means in a curved frame guide and at its bottom part is hinged to the inner carriage, such that the head cushion can be shifted from a stowed position in the chair configuration behind a frame-affixed back cushion to a deployed position in the cot configuration after the two cushions are laid end to end on the extended carriage. The inner carriage is displaceable with its inner end on frame-affixed guides sloping upward toward the front end of the frame. The two carriages are coupled by laterally mounted guide rails and sliding or rolling elements and the outer carriage is provided with a cushion carrier which is adjustable by means of levers between a lowered position associated with the chair configuration and a raised position associated with the cot configuration.
A convertible chair of this kind is disclosed in DE No. 33 45 916 C2. In the chair configuration, the head cushion is contained in a space behind the back which is affixed to the frame. If to convert the chair to a cot the double carriage is drawn forward out of the frame, the head cushion is automatically shifted to the cot configuration on the basis of its guidance on the frame, since its bottom edge is articulated to the inner carriage. The double carriage forming the chair seat consists of an inner carriage guided on the frame and an outer carriage guided on the inner carriage, and the two cushions are situated on it. When the carriage is extended the upper cushion hinged to the bottom cushion can be folded back onto the inner carriage, so that the head cushion and the other two cushions together form a continuous surface on which to lie.
A chair convertible to a chaise-longue is disclosed by DE No. 79 29 296 U1; it includes an outer carriage and a middle carriage which can be telescoped out of a frame, the middle carriage being equipped with a pivotally mounted support plate.
It is the purpose of the invention to design a seat that is convertible for either sitting or lying, of the kind described above, such that the conversion of the seat to a couch as well as the reverse operation can be performed very simply and quickly and virtually without any bothersome exertion, and the hardware providing for the movement between the relatively movable components will assure simplicity of construction combined with high reliability of operation and therefore a long useful life of the overall system.